Scottish Chamber Orchestra: Pekka Kuusisto
City Halls, Glasgow - 11/03/23
Do folk and classical music mix?
This was the question set by the visiting Finnish violinist and conductor Pekka Kuusisto at this concert in the well-attended City Halls last Friday. Pekka is a very nice guy and he likes to talk to his audience; he reassured us that since they had played it the night before in the Queen’s Hall it worked and they had remembered it! He also asked us if we liked the conductor talking to us; we reassured him we did. Indeed it is something other conductors could follow to give us an idea of their objectives for a concert. Pekka was very clear about his intentions he wanted to show the importance of folk music in the creation and execution of classical music.
As a lover of folk music and classical music I have never doubted the connection. We can all think of great composers who have used folk melodies integrated into their symphonies, such as Beethoven, or indeed composers who have arranged great folk music in a classical format such as Vaughan Williams. Also in Scotland we have experience of our national bard, Robert Burns’, poems being arranged by classical composers such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and others. Indeed one of my favourite recent arrangements was Arvo Pärt’s version of Burns’ ‘My Heart’s in the Highlands’, dedicated to David James, a member of the Hilliard Ensemble. Sung by the Danish soprano Else Torp it featured in the fine Italian film, ‘The Great Beauty’ (dir. Paolo Sorrentino).
Sadly, I wasn’t convinced this concert advanced the connection much. Pekka’s idea was to use his friend American folk singer Sam Amidon to sing four songs in between the movements of Janacek’s ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ with special string accompaniment written by composer Nico Mulhy. I’m not sure most people in the audience appreciated the connection. I know several I spoke to didn’t; only if you study the text of the songs, rather bloody murder ballads, and relate that to the original Tolstoy story on which Janacek’s composition is based, and if you read as usual very good programme notes would you understand the connection. The problem is most people don’t buy a programme so the connection was only in listening, and as one friend said, “I couldn’t hear the words.” So Sam Amidon was a pleasant enough singer, but for me he didn’t illuminate or connect to the Janacek; instead, he interrupted the flow.
Ironically, the connection between folk music and classical music was made much better when Pekka gave up his violin and conducted Sibelius’ Third Symphony which uses a lot of traditional Finnish music as part of the symphony, and the SCO played it very well and totally uninterrupted to conclude the concert. I’m all in favour of attempting to make connections across the musical world. The SCO have been leaders in this in Scotland, and of course their cellist, Su~a Lee, is a pioneer in this field as her recent brilliant CD ‘Dialogues’ shows. But sometimes these connections work better than others and for me tonight’s concert didn’t connect.
